View full size(Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer)Natalie Leissa of Lakewood holds a 99 percent flag Wednesday at Tom Johnson quadrant on Public Square where Occupy Cleveland had gather to celebrate the city agreeing to give the group 24-hour access to the municipal park in response to Occupy Cleveland lawyers seeking an injunction in federal court. She is under a statue of Tom Johnson, a progressive, first elected Cleveland mayor in 1901. The group is part of the Occupy Wall Street movement which says that the wealthy 1 percent of Americans control the economy and have inflicted hardship on the other 99 percent.

CLEVELAND, Ohio --Cleveland has agreed to let Occupy Cleveland demonstrate 24 hours a day on Public Square, after the group took the matter to court on Wednesday.

The two sides met with U.S. Judge Dan Aaron Polster, after lawyers for Occupy Cleveland sought an injunction to stop the city from interfering with protests after 10 p.m., the curfew in city parks.

Police arrested 11 of the group's members Friday in the northwest section of Public Square, also know as Tom Johnson quadrant, for violating curfew.

Polster brokered an agreement Wednesday between the city and protesters and then directed the city to issue a permit through the end of November for the northwest quadrant. It exempts Occupy Cleveland from the curfew law but does not strike down the law itself. Protesters are allowed to demonstrate on the square but not camp there.

Polster also told lawyers to meet again with him Nov. 9.

Occupy Cleveland is one of hundreds of protests worldwide over what organizers consider financial and social inequalities.

J. Michael Murray, the lawyer representing the Occupy Cleveland members, said the agreement was a victory for free speech.

"This will enable them to exercise all their constitutional rights . . . without fear of being prosecuted," he said.

Occupy Cleveland's lawsuit said that demonstrating on Public Square is essential for members to exercise free speech over "economic justice and citizen participation in government." The lawsuit characterized the location as "central to public transportation and the Cleveland business district."

Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Mayor Frank Jackson, said Cleveland reached an agreement with Occupy Cleveland because the city gave up little.

"The city's 10 p.m. law remains in effect," he said. "The lawsuit goes away. The city retains just as much authority to enforce our camping prohibition."

Neither the lawsuit nor the judge's order dealt with Occupy Cleveland's desire to camp on Public Square. Members had camped there for about two weeks until permits allowing the group 24-hour access expired Saturday.

Murray said the agreement was based on a provision in the curfew ordinance that allows the parks, recreation and properties director to issues permits for groups to use city parks during curfew hours.

Silliman said Occupy Cleveland never sought such permits. Instead, some members chose to disobey the law and got arrested, he said.

Legally, Polster's order won't have a bearing on the 11 pending cases. Terry Gilbert, one of the lawyers representing those charged with breaking curfew, said officials should in "good faith" dismiss the curfew cases agreeing to grant the group 24-hour access.

"The agreement of the city of Cleveland to extend the permits underscores how completely unnecessary and bizarre the arrests and jailings were on Friday night -- wasting police and court resources, not to mention the utter disregard of free speech," he wrote in an email.

Silliman said Occupy Cleveland members often haven't followed the terms of permits. For example, the city Monday allowed the group to erect a canopy on West Roadway, near Johnson quadrant, but prohibited anyone from sleeping there. At 5:55 a.m. Tuesday, he said, he discovered a woman and three men in sleeping bags under the canopy. The woman said she knew camping was prohibited.

"The three other sleeping bag occupants neither moved nor replied," Silliman said.

The six members who sought the injunction are James Turturice III of Cleveland, Timothy Smith of Cleveland, Kathy Smith of Cleveland, Ben Shapiro of Cleveland, Ajoy Gill of East Cleveland and Steven Larson of Kent. None was arrested Friday night.

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